Gruden - Newton

No it wasnt, Auburn rarely ever huddled. How is he supposed to rattle of a play call that didnt exist?

Do people that keep repeating this honestly think Cam is so retarded he forgot the whole playbook already?

Gruden for some weird reason likes long ass verbage in his playcalls, probably why he goes thru so many QB's. There are simpler ways to do things.

 

He couldn't real of anything. Nothig. Zip. Nic.

He said that they just ran to the line and ran plays. Really? How did the receivers know to go left or right at the Buick?

If he had simply said that it was not his job to call any plays at all and that everyone was supposed to look at the board and recognize the play like Oregon does, then I would have been fine with that answer.

But that bullshit about simple being fast was just fucking sad.

 

not having access to an NFL playbook, I guess I can't say for sure but I'd bet what Gruden called off is far closer to the norm then say 36 is. Not saying he can't learn it by no meAns but it's going to be a big learning curve

 

Have you ever actually watched an Auburn game?

They show them on ESPNU quite regularly. Go watch one and then see if you still feel the same way.

You might have thought it was sad but Auburn operate a high tempo offense, thats how they do things, not Cams fault.

 

Correct, but while that may not be Cam's fault, it's still a major strike against him. His playcalls in college were actually just numbered. I think I read something today or yesterday where one call was "34." He's going to have absolutely no clue how to articulate an NFL play-call, much less understand what the verbiage means. I'd also be interested to know if Malzahn's offense is always that way, or if they had to dumb it down for Newton. For instance, Oklahoma makes the calls from the sideline but it's not simplified to just a number.

 

That makes it even worse, IMO. If he had simply said, our play calls were one number, a phrase, or even a hieroglyph, I would have been fine with that. But if the play calls were that simplistic and he STILL couldn't come up with one off the top of his head, then how the hell is he going to call a play in 45 seconds in a huddle? Even if he had said "I used a series of 3 hand signals" and had given them to Gruden I would have been fine with it.

 

I don't need to have ever watched an Auburn game - or a football game for that matter - to know that Newton couldn't answer the question. So either he froze under pressure, couldn't remember a play call, or is a moron. None of those are exactly traits that I would be looking for in my number 1 pick.

Seriously, could you really imagine Brees, Manning, Brady Rivers, et al giving that answer?

You know who I could imagine giving that answer? Ryan Leaf.

 

The question was "give me a play from your offense that has a lot of verbiage." Not, call out one of your plays.

34 black is not something that has a lot of verbage. Hell, he's not even calling the play. Auburn coaches put up a color and a number. There is no verbage in Auburn's offense. Its designed to get the play out the players as quickly as possible, get them lined up, and the ball hiked.

The question was designed to do what it did, highlight one of Cam's weaknesses. It's a legitimate issue, Auburn's O isn't anything like any NFL offense. He could have simply said, "there is none," instead stumbling around the loaded question, sure. But its not like he could call out the verbage of a play. There is no verbage.

>>But that bullshit about simple being fast was just fucking sad.

Its not BS. Its a legitimate answer, and a true reflection of the philosphy Auburn and Oregon and other teams like them use. It's not just a "spread offense." It's a spread offense using a no huddle for the entire game. You've got to simplify things if you aren't going to huddle.

Its a legitimate concern. Its one the NFL may need to figure out, because less and less college teams are moving toward NFL style offenses.

>> I'd also be interested to know if Malzahn's offense is always that way, or if they had to dumb it down for Newton. For instance, Oklahoma makes the calls from the sideline but it's not simplified to just a number.

They weren't a read option team with Todd under center, and they threw more. But it's the same system. They are trying to wear the defense out with a lot of plays in a short period of time. Its not really that much like OK offense, more similar to Oregon's.

 

Again - all of this makes it look worse. If his answer had been "I can't give you a long play call from our offense, because our longest one is 34 orange, or pelican, Van Pelt, North Dakota" that would have been all well and good.

So either he couldn't come up with his longest play call (even if it was only 2 words) or he couldn't come up with an answer to a very simple question. Hell, I would have settled for Mona Lisa Vito's answer about why she was qualified to answer questions about tire marks and Buick Skylarks.

 

I admit it didn't look good but hell I'd like to think in a job interview he got asked more complicated things than that.